After organsing his second own art exhibition in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province in 1996, artist Tran Van Binh displayed 26 his typical works at an exhibition themed "Garden of the Mind" in July 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City that gave him the chance to meet his friends, colleagues, and art lovers again after a long time.

Painter Tran Van Binh at his own art exhibition themed "Garden of the Mind" in July 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Multidimensional, continuity and displacement drawings

Born in 1964, artist Tran Van Binh who is residing in Vinh Dien Commune, Dien Ban Town, Quang Nam Province said that he used brush strokes to tell stories about the garden of memories with multi-dimensional spaces along with patterns of continuity and displacement. He pursues modern abstract art but remains faithful to folk symbols in his artworks. He uses yellow and red as the main colours while using straight and curved lines to form geometric shapes such as squares, circles, rectangle, triangle, trapezoid, semicircle, rhombus, and more. Painter Binh chooses to paint oil and acrylic paintings or pain oils over acrylics in order to create colourful and awesome patches in his artworks.

After graduating from the Hue College of Fine Arts in 1985, artist Tran Van Binh pursued abstract art to freely use colours and create his artworks. Painters' brush strokes feature liberal, slanted, and overlapping thoughts which like scratches on their soul, Mr Binh remarked.

Art researcher Ly Doi praised Tran Van Binh's paintings for their gentle and liberal characteristics. He remarked that Binh's paintings feature methodical but disruptive, gentle but adventurous, and relaxed but reclusive characteristics. In other words, his paintings feature a mixture of year-over-year memories with multidimensional and elusive stories, Mr Doi added.

Meeting artist Tran Van Binh again after 2 his own art exhibitions in Da Nang in 1993 and Hoi An in 1996, art researcher Phung Tan Dong praised artist Binh’s 26 artworks displayed at July’s exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City for his maturity level in abstract art.

According to Mr. Dong, Tran Van Binh is one of the few painters in Quang Nam Province who pursue abstract art and achieve success. In addition to eye-catching and awesome characteristics, the maturity level in Tran Van Binh's paintings also reflect the reduction in lines and shapes but make sure that his artworks convey the message about life and human nature.

Keeping a peace of mind to create artworks and contemplate life

Artworks by artist Tran Van Binh displayed at his own art exhibition in July 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City used the main colours such as yellow, red, blue-black, deep brown and bright gray in his oil and acrylic paintings  but ensure static and deep space in his works. His displayed paintings at this art exhibition carrying the titles that evoked memories. Included were Wind and Clouds over the Mountains, Meeting With Wind, A Peaceful Place, the Rhythm of Bai Choi (singing while acting as playing cards), Salty Soil and Sour Fields, and Sunshine on the Old Yard.

The 58 year-old artist has hung around at home for many years as he does not know to how to ride a motorbike and rarely uses social media platforms. The solitude has given him time to contemplate life and perfect his compositions. It took him few days or even a year to complete his abstract paintings.

Till date, artworks by Tran Van Binh have been displayed at the Da Nang Fine Arts Museum and have been included in the art collection of the Viet Nam Fine Arts Association. Many of his paintings are worth thousands of US dollars due to their high artistic quality, according to art experts’ assessments. However, he still makes slow progress in composing to ensure quality in his paintings. He has sometimes sent his paintings to the Central Highlands and National fine arts exhibitions for display and reaped many valuable awards for his outstanding artworks.

Artist Tran Van Binh said that developing a habit to paint regularly helps him nurture his love of painting and find joy in his everyday life.

He highlighted the importance of keeping a peace of mind in creating artworks and contemplate life. Painting is not just a work of art as artists want to use colours in their paintings to say whatever they want,  reveal their haunting memories and make predictions about the future , he added.

Reporting by TIEU YEN – Translating by H.L